Central Tablelands Regional Strategic Weed Management Plan 2017-2022
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Central Tablelands Regional Strategic Weed Management Plan 2017 – 2022 (Abridged Version) Developed in partnership with the Central Tablelands Regional Weed Committee This is a draft only. Photos courtesy of NSW Government © Central Tablelands (Abridged Version) 2 Regional Strategic Weed Management Plan 2017 – 2022 DRAFT Contents Executive Summary 4 Appendix 1: Priority weeds for the Central Tablelands Local Land Services Region 7 A1.1 State level determined priority weeds 7 A1.2 Regionally determined priority weeds 12 Appendix 2: Other regional weed lists 18 A2.1 Regional alert list 18 A2.2 Regional community concern list 19 3 Central Tablelands (Abridged Version) Executive Summary The Central Tablelands Region supports a diverse and distinct mixture of landscape, livelihood, cultural and lifestyle values. Strategic and coordinated regional weed management is critical to building the sustainability of the primary industries, natural environments and local communities in the Central Tablelands region. NSW is in the process of reforming its weed, pest and disease biosecurity legislation. Together, the NSW Biosecurity Strategy 2013-2021 and NSW Biosecurity Act 2015 (which repeals the Noxious Weeds Act 1993 and is expected to be operational in early 2017) provide a modernised and clear vision for safeguarding our primary industries, natural environments and communities from a range of biosecurity threats (pests, diseases and weeds), and the role of community-wide shared responsibility. This Regional Strategic Weed Management Plan (the plan) is a direct response to this legislative reform. It was prepared by the Central Tablelands Regional Weed Committee on behalf of the Central Tablelands Local Land Services Board with guidance from the State Weeds Committee and Local Land Services. It covers weed risks that impact: – animal and plant industries, including agriculture, aquaculture, recreational and commercial fishing in our freshwater systems and forestry – biodiversity and the natural (terrestrial and aquatic), urban and peri-urban environments – human health, lifestyle, cultural values, recreation and social amenity – infrastructure and service industries, including energy, transport and water supplies. The plan sets the vision for weed management in the Central Tablelands for the five years from 2017 and outlines strategies and actions to achieve goals that focus on shared responsibility for weed management, sustainable landscapes and collaborative leadership and innovation (see Box 1). The plan supports the reform by providing a sound basis for a co-operative and co-ordinated approach to landscape scale weed management in the Central Tablelands region. It articulates what “shared responsibility” means for the region’s communities and stakeholders, and how they will work together to identify, minimise, respond to and manage high risk weeds, both now and into the future. The Biosecurity Act 2015 applies equally to all land in the region, whether public or private (i.e. it is tenure neutral), and as such contains a range of new regulatory tools and a General Biosecurity Duty (GBD) that support this approach to managing weed biosecurity risk. This plan outlines these new tools and how they will be applied. The tools include Prohibited Matter, Biosecurity Zones, Mandatory Measures and Control Orders. The plan also outlines land manager obligations under the General Biosecurity Duty in the region, which for weeds is broadly defined as any person dealing with plant matter must take measures to prevent, minimise or eliminate the biosecurity risk (as far as is reasonably practicable). An expert panel has used best available evidence and an internationally-recognised risk-based prioritisation system to develop the priority weed list for this plan. Appendix 1 of this plan includes these regional priority weeds to which “recommended measures to discharge the General Biosecurity Duty” have been identified and includes state level priority weeds for the region. Appendix 2 lists other weeds identified in the prioritisation process as a further focus for weed management in the region. Local Land Services has responsibility for implementing a number of key recommendations under the reforms which includes the formation of statutory Regional Weed Committee’s. The reforms are in response to the Natural Resource Commission NSW weeds review in 2014. The Central Tablelands Regional Weeds Committee has been established in response to this reform recommendation and is one of 11 regional committees across the state. The first term of the committee has focused on the development of this plan and the role of the committee is likely to evolve as the focus shifts to implementing this plan. Through its membership, the committee provides tenure neutral strategic planning and co-ordination of weed management activities at a regional level and is a forum for community and stakeholders in decision making. The committee works closely with the State Weeds Committee that has been established to ensure a consistent, coordinated and strategic approach to weed management in NSW. 4 Regional Strategic Weed Management Plan 2017 – 2022 DRAFT A range of stakeholders have played an important role in the evolution of weed management planning in the region over many years. This plan has built on past planning efforts and has gained immeasurably from the accumulated experience and expert local knowledge of committee members and their networks. Much of this experience sits on the Central Tablelands Regional Weed Committee which includes representatives from local government and county councils, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Macquarie Valley Weeds Advisory Committee, state government agencies managing crown lands (including the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Forestry Corporation of NSW, and Department of Industry - Lands), NSW Farmers, John Holland Rail, Landcare, Aboriginal land managers, environmental interests, rural landholders and Central Tablelands Local Land Services. The Regional Weed Committee through its members will play an important role in coordinating the implementation of the plan. Stakeholders will come together to develop key processes that facilitate the delivery of: – shared responsibility – standardised, tenure neutral and prioritised approaches to weed management planning, investment and delivery across the region – strategic approaches to communicating locally relevant key messages, and engaging partners, stakeholders and the broader community – coordinated and integrated information management and research capacity – regional measures of performance that track the progressive impacts of our programs and interventions, investment in priorities and progress towards outcomes for shared responsibility for weed management, sustainable landscapes and collaborative leadership and innovation – robust monitoring, reporting evaluation and improvement processes that allow for measuring the performance of this plan, the effectiveness of the region’s overall investment in weed management, and how we can improve our weed management projects, programs and policies. Identifying local implementation roles, responsibilities and partnerships will be integral to these processes. 5 Central Tablelands (Abridged Version) Box 1: Goals and action focus for the Central Tablelands Regional Strategic Weed Management Plan Goal 1: Responsibility for weed biosecurity is shared by all people of the Central Tablelands Actions focus on a whole of community approach to weed management, with an emphasis on: – building community capacity – building stronger partnerships – fostering a shared responsibility – increasing awareness. Goal 2: Weed biosecurity supports profitable, productive and sustainable primary industries Goal 3: Weed biosecurity supports healthy, diverse and connected natural environments Actions focus on weed biosecurity to protect the environment, the community and sustainable economic growth. Actions for Goals 2 and 3 have been combined as weed management efforts provide multiple outcomes across natural environments and primary industries. The emphasis is on: – preventing new weeds from entering the region – eradicating or containing the spread of new weeds that do establish – managing widespread weeds where the benefits are greatest. Goal 4: Weed biosecurity is supported by coordinated, collaborative and innovative leadership Actions focus on consistent and contemporary approaches to implementing this plan, with emphasis on: – providing good governance and leadership to support a collaborative approach – supporting and delivering the weed biosecurity reforms for NSW – implementing risk based systems across all tenancies in a co-ordinated manner – supporting innovation by embracing continuous learning, information systems, research and technology. 6 Regional Strategic Weed Management Plan 2017 – 2022 DRAFT Appendix 1: Priority weeds for the Central Tablelands Local Land Services Region This appendix covers State level determined priorities (A1.1) and regionally determined priorities (A1.2). The Biosecurity Act and regulations provide specific legal requirements for state level priority weeds (A1.1) and high risk activities. For each state level priority weed, the state objective and how this objective is achieved through specific requirements under the Biosecurity Act and regulations is covered. These specific regulatory requirements include Prohibited Matter, Biosecurity Zones, Mandatory Measures, Control Orders (see Table 2.1 and Section 4.2). A1.2